YSR balances 'social justice' factor

The chief minister, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), has at last formed his cabinet with 24 ministers in the first phase, who were sworn-in on Saturday in a simple ceremony held at Raj Bhavan.

Surprising many a leader across the political spectrum in the state, YSR pulled off a coup in keeping the composition of his cabinet heavily bent upon 'social justice'.

At the same time, the denial of berths in the central cabinet to former chief minister N Janardhan Reddy and former Union minister G Venkataswamy has created some ripples.

The ministers with important portfolios include K Rosaiah (finance and planning and legislative affairs), Botsa Satyanarayana (major industries), Ponnala Laxmaiah (major irrigation), J C Divakar Reddy (Panchayat Raj), Konatala Ramakrishna (commercial taxes), K Jana Reddy (home), Dharmana Prasada Rao (revenue), N Raghuveera Reddy (agriculture), Jakkampudi Rammohan Rao (roads and buildings).

The cabinet has a balanced blend of old and the new, in terms of past experience as ministers and the seniority as MLAs.

Important portfolios have been almost evenly distributed among the three regions in the state. Keeping with the recent tradition, the Telangana region was given both the home and irrigation ministries while other important ministries like major industries, municipal administration, higher education, roads and buildings went to the coastal Andhra region.

While the backward Rayalaseema region got the agriculture and Panchayati Raj ministries, unallocated portfolios, which will be with the chief minister, include power, excise, medical and health among others.

With several of his loyalists kept waiting for their turn as ministers and half of the newly sworn in ministers being his own men, Rajasekhara Reddy showed great political shrewdness in being able to avoid giving any chance to disgruntled leaders from mobilising any support for their activities on caste lines.

Backward castes (BC) and scheduled castes (SC) have received the highest representation in the cabinet compared to other communities with six and five ministers belonging to the above two categories.

For the first time after the Chenna Reddy ministry in the 1970s, two Muslims were accommodated this time. Among the rest two ministers belong to the scheduled tribes.

With a whopping 15 berths going to the BC, SC, ST (scheduled tribes) and Muslims, the upper castes, who have been the real wielders of power in the state, had to share the remaining nine.

Of them, four belong to the Reddy caste, who are considered to be the traditional supporters of Congress party and one each representing the Kaman, Velma and Visa castes.

The politically insatiate Kapu caste who have been the major contenders for political power in the coastal belt have received two posts.

This signifies the preferences of Congress party as far as the coastal region is concerned as Kammas are more or less considered as the support base of Telugu Desam party.

Showing signs of reluctant accommodativeness, Rajasekhara Reddy has inducted his recently loyalist turned detractor and PCC president D Srinivas into his cabinet.

But among others, the Telangana torch bearers, like Chinna Reddy, Indirakaran Reddy, U Purshotam Reddy and several others have received a raw deal and finding no ministerial berths in the first phase.

Even though region wise parity has been achieved with proportionate distribution of berths among the three regions of the state, five districts could not be accommodated in the first phase on account of intense competition for ministerial berth in these districts.

Chittoor, Mahaboobnagar, Khammam, West Godavari and Hyderabad districts were kept out of the first phase exercise. Among the significant attributes about Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet, the allocation of six (if Kapus, who fought for BC status are also clubbed together, it would become eight) posts to BC communities is viewed as a major shift for a party with feudal overtones.

"Hereafter, the Congress party will continue to give proper representation in the power structure to all those sections which supported it in the just concluded elections. Increased representation to Muslims and BCs in the cabinet is a clear step towards this commitment. BCs are a major base of the Telugu Desam party and the Congress will now take special care about them," a senior party leader told Business Standard.

The increased representation to BCs in the cabinet is also attributed to the increased representation of north coastal Andhra in Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet, where the BCs have been a significant political force. This region was a traditional TDP bastion until recently.

With Rajasekhara Reddy's influence clearly extending beyond his own group now, the only other group which can negotiate for any rightful share left is headed by the former chief minister N Janardhan Reddy.

The aging leader, who apparently wants to retain his hold in the party, is upset over the denial of a berth in the union cabinet. His wife Rajyalaxmi, a MLA in the Andhra Assembly has sent her resignation letter, a few hours after being sworn in as a minister in the state cabinet.

As far as the erstwhile members of the late former chief minister Kotla Vijayabhasker Reddy whom YSR bitterly opposed, they may remain as backbenchers in the party for a quite some time. Angry over the allotment of not so important portfolio, D Srinivas is already in New Delhi.

Though YSR waited for the endorsement of party high command for the cabinet exercise, the final outcome has clearly shown his assertion, with several of his personal preferences finding place in the cabinet.

YSR may hold out the second phase of cabinet expansion as a carrot to avoid any possible regrouping of dissidents in the near future.

According to the chief minister, the first cabinet expansion is expected as and when the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leadership makes up its mind on the issue.

Rajasekhara Reddy said that the some of the social sections which were not adequately represented in the first phase would be given preference at the time of the next cabinet expansion.